Cibola Burn

In book four of The Expanse series, Cibola Burn, the gates to the stars have opened for humanity. The United Nations want to regulate who gets to go where but Belters don't give two shits what Earth and Mars think. And thus one of the big threats people face on a strange planet is what they brought with them -- each other.

Viewpoint characters this time include Basia Merton, a welder and one of the Belters on the freighter Barbapiccola who rushed through the Ring into a new star system before a blockade was set up. They landed on a planet that was named Ilus (or New Terra by the UN) to colonize it and also to mine lithium to sell back in Sol for profit.

Elvi Okoye is an Earther biologist on the Royal Charter Energy ship Edward Israel that arrives to Ilus afterwards with a mandate from the UN. Okoye and the rest of the scientist group landing on the planet in a shuttle get immediately hit by explosives set by some of the Belter colonists. Even with Epstein drive Ilus is so far from Sol that I guess they reckoned trying to keep the UN away with extreme measures is worth it.

Things are of course far from peaceful after the attack, and the RCE security team starts aggressively policing the colony. The third new viewpoint character, Dimitri Havelock, is a member of the team, though he never lands on the planet, staying on the Israel.

Havelock we actually met in the first novel already as he was Miller's partner on Ceres. His bad experiences with the outer planets folk have hardened his attitude towards them and he no longer tries to be particularly friendly with them. He is still far from his current boss, Murtry, however.

It's weird how the plots in the Expanse always rely on characters who are completely fine with killing people. So many problems could be avoided if someone just shot these implausible psychopaths in the face right away. Amos wants to kill Murtry upon meeting him for the first time but Holden of course doesn't give him the permission to do so. That would've probably achieved Holden's goal as a mediator quicker though, and I doubt no one would've minded in the end.

Certain incidents on Ilus's orbit made me think how useful it would be for the Rocinante's crew to have a Martian power armor. Surely one could be bought some way and they surely have the funds. One person could board and take over any civilian ship fairly safely and without too much trouble while wearing one since they are so impervious to small arms fire.

They could have even had Bobbie to be the one to use the armor. I'm in fact quite surprised Bobbie didn't join the crew after the second novel. In this one she has retired from service and isn't really doing anything on Mars. She'd make a perfect permanent gunner and additional muscle for the team.

Cibola Burn was maybe bit of a . . . I won't say a letdown but certainly not as exciting as Abaddon's Gate. It is probably a necessary interlude in the grand scheme of things but it sure had an isolated side quest feel to it too.

Also; the cover of the book is quite striking. It doesn't show that well in any image I could find (on my monitors at least) but the orange used in the book's title is eye-catching bright. It really contrasts with the green and jumps right off at you.